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FIESA, PÊRA’S awe-inspiring sand sculpture festival, is now in its third year and this summer the theme will be ‘Lost Worlds’, with sculptures set to focus on ancient civilisations.
This year’s event will open to the public on May 25, and will include work by some of the genre’s top sculptors and consist of an incredible 30,000 tons of sand. Located in the borough of Silves, on the road that links Algoz to the Via do Infante, FIESA 2005 occupies a total area of 15,000sqm and is able to accommodate around 4,000 visitors per day.
Visitors to the festival will be greeted at the entrance by sand replicas of the mysterious monoliths of the South Pacific’s Easter Island and, on the opposite side of the exhibition, they will find an enormous dinosaur in an area reserved for the pre-man period. Another highlight this year is a Roman arena, inspired by the Coliseum, where sand sculpted gladiators and lions add to the spectacle.
The festival runs until September 25 and is open between 10am and 11pm. FIESA is the only festival of its type in Portugal and the previous two events were visited by around 150,000 people. As well as the exhibition, FIESA 2005 also includes a sand sculpture workshop for all ages.
